Stipe Miocic vs. Francis Ngannou
The fight was for the UFC heavyweight title with Stipe Miocic defending. Fight The first round began. Ngannou southpaw, lands a partially blocked high kick, Miocic working a single and gets it, crowd roars. Ngannou stands to the clinch eating a pawing right. Ngannou lands three rights, breaks with a left that drops Stipe, Stipe shoots for a single desperately, Ngannou defends, breaks with a left elbow. Miocic backpedaling. 4:00. Stipe lands a jab, eats a clubbing overhand right, damn. Ngannou misses a one-two, Stipe slips out of the way of some combos, eats a right uppercut and a left uppercut. Ngannou looks fantastic out there, Stipe's on his bike. Stipe lands a beautiful counter right, he's rocked by a counter right. Ngannou lands a hard one-two. Crowd chanting Stipe. Ngannou showing the right uppercut, stuffs a single to the clinch. 3:00. Stipe knees the leg, eats one to the body. Stipe knees the body. Ngannou separates nicely. "Hands up!" Stipe backpedaling, slipping punches, slips a big right and left hook. Stipe lands a beautiful counter right. Got Ngannou's attention. "Straight right!" 2:00 as Stipe lands another huge counter right. He gets a beautifully timed double, passes nicely to side control. Stipe lands a left elbow. He steps over to the mounted crucifix. Trying to isolate an arm, lands a couple lefts and loses the crucifix. Rogan says Ngannou looks lost and unsure of what to do. Stipe postures up, lands a right and two lefts and a left hammerfist, he goes for a guillotine in the scramble, let it go, they stand and break, 1:00. Ngannou's visibly tired, eats a big one-two, misses his whiffing return. Ngannou lands a jab, eats a counter left hook. 30 seconds left. Crowd chanting Stipe. Ngannou lands a right uppercut and a jab. 15. Stipe lands a counter right and a left hook and a right, Ngannou flailing but lands a left hook in that exchange as well, defends a double but Stipe completes it with thudding authority and R1 ends, 10-9 Miocic, Rogan's pumped. R2 began. "Francis looks exhausted," Rogan asserts. Cruz jokes that he's playing possum, they touch gloves to start off the second. Ngannou showing that right uppercut, eats an inside kick. Ngannou looks like he's underwater. Stipe lands a right and a left, crowd chanting his name. Stipe lands an inside kick, eats a counter right. Stipe teeps the gut. Stipe lands a jab, dodges a whiffing right to the body. Stipe lands a jab. 4:00. Ngannou shows the right uppercut, eats a leg kick. Inside kick from Stipe and a jab, dodges a right uppercut, lands an inside kick. Stipe lands a leg kick. Stipe slips a right narrowly. Ngannou stuffs a single, lands a right uppercut but Stipe slips a big right hook. Stipe lands a huge one-two and a jab. 3:00. Ngannou looks exhausted. So does Stipe too. Ngannou standing still basically, trying to conserve energy, eats a leg kick. Stipe lands a one-two. Ngannou lands a right uppercut. Stipe shoots a double and gets it all the way across the cage, has the back, crowd's going nuts. Two lefts under. 2:00. Ngannou up to one knee. Two short lefts under from Ngannou. Ngannou's exhausted, Cruz's analysis is very valuable. Crowd booing. Referee wants them to work. 1:00. Ngannou up to both feet, Stipe knees the body, drags him back down easily. He knees the body. Three lefts under. Thirty-five seconds left. "Three-quarter nelson," Cruz describes the new position changes... Three harder lefts under frm Stipe as Ngannou gets up to the waist cinch, eats five lefts under and Stipe drags him down easily, has the back with one hook and a choke locked in under the chin, R2 ends however, Ngannou's nose is very bloody and he's exhausted, 10-8 Miocic. "You have to go and get it," his corner urges in their language. "You can do it." The referee had to order Ngannou twice to get off the stool. R3 began. Ngannou's mouth is wide open, Miocic casually touches gloves. He lands an inside kick. Miocic is a fucking gangster. Inside kick. He looks like he's out for a stroll in the park, goes for an ankle pick, works his way up to a single, Ngannou defending pushing the head down, stuffs it to the clinch, Miocic knees the leg. Miocic goes for a trip, stuffed by Ngannou, Stipe knees the body. "Knee to the leg!" 4:00. Ngannou tries to bull his way forward and Miocic throws him down, the crowd audibly laughs for something like six seconds. Ngannou down on one knee, exhausted. Referee wants work. Ngannou lands two rights under. He knees the head as Ngannou works to stand fully. He does to the clinch. "You're looking at a very tired giant man." Miocic knees the thigh. Miocic breaks with a lazy left. Ngannou's hands are all the way down. Miocic inside kick. Crowd chanting his name. Miocic lands a calmly aimed hard straight right. He slips a right and a left easily from Ngannou. Ngannou rocks him with a huge right, lands a left, Miocic gets a kneetap to half-guard. Stipe said something to him as soon as he got him down. Rogan speculates as does Cruz. Miocic lands something like eight or nine rights, two nice right elbows. He's mauling Ngannou, crowd chanting his name. Three right elbows, a right, six or seven rights. Six or seven rights and a right elbow. "He's just tired of being tired," Cruz commented. 1:00. Stipe lands two short right elbows. Just dicing him up. Another against the cage. Another and another. Thirty-five. "Pass the guard!" Seven short rights under. Four or five more. He is working dumbass ref. Two big rights under to prove it. Lol the sound cut out for a second, one of the commentators' mics. Stipe lands a big right elbow. R3 ends and Ngannou is very very slow to stand, Stipe casually leans against the cage like he's checking the time on his watch. 10-8 Stipe. "We need to hit a little bit harder on the ground. You're awesome, you're the champ, let's just feint him up a little bit, okay? When you're done punching, you can slip the punch." R4 began. Stipe has a bad mouse under his left eye. They come out slowly and shake hands respectfully. Stipe lands an exhausted inside leg kick. Stipe works a single, transitions to a double beautifully to side control, easily. Stipe lands a left. "He just doesn't seem to know what to do." Three or four left elbows. Ngannou regains half-guard. Eats left hammerfists, three of 'em, tries a leglock. Miocic hops right back into half-guard, lands eight or nine left bombs, Ngannou gives up the back. Miocic lands five or six right elbows to the back, two or three more, four more. A right under. Five lefts and left hammerfists to either side of the head. "You just start beating yourself, content to lay there and take punches instead of trying to use energy to get up. Your muscles are exhausted." 3:00. Rogan's explaining what Ngannou needs to do. Stipe does have a headlock. Ngannou not fighting it. Stipe knees the body. Stipe thinking D'arce maybe. Interesting Oriental tattoo down Stipe's spine, never noticed that before, must be new. Ref wants action with two minutes left. 102 to 1 is the number of shots on the ground for Stipe and Ngannou respectively.... Geez. Stipe with eight huge lefts under. Three more. Eleven big lefts, some blocked or partially blocked by Ngannou's right hand. Six lefts and left hammerfists, some blocked or partially blocked, to either side of the head. Miocic knees the body. Crowd chanting Stipe. 1:00. Stipe lands a left. Lands a left elbow and another. Another and another. Such creative angles. Stipe still with that unrelenting headlock and undefended to be honest... Rogan calls him out on not going for a submission. Rights to the body from Stipe... Wants him to go for a rear-naked choke actually, pardon me. I think a guillotine seems even more obvious. 10 seconds left.... Boos. R4 ends, Ngannou very slowly and clearly exhaustedly stands, 10-7 Stipe in my opinion. Just fucking complete and utter domination and humiliation. "I know it's heartbreaking, but you can get him. Open your eyes. We're going to do it. Go with the jab," they told Ngannou soberly, false calm. R5 began and they wearily shake hands. Stipe's eye looks pretty bad. He lands an inside kick. Ngannou can barely walk. "Please come here so I can sock you," Cruz joked. Ngannou stuffs a halfhearted single-leg attempt to the clinch. Stipe knees the leg. "Cain in his prime was this but his cardio was otherworldly. Cain's cardio is just the freakiest thing I've ever seen from any heavyweight," Rogan mused.. Not much is happening. Stipe knees the leg. Herb Dean wants work. Stipe works hard for a single, Ngannou valiantly defending, goes for a guillotine which his corner had apparently been asking for. Stipe defending the standing guillotine, escapes, clinch. Ngannou stuffs a single. 3:00. Cruz praising Ngannou's recovery. "I think Stipe's tired as well," Rogan disagrees. Crowd booing. Ngannou like a fish out of water. Ref breaks them up. Crowd cheers sarcastically. Both of their hands down. Just looking at each other. Stipe lands an inside kick. 2:00. "Waiting to get that energy bar back up." Ngannou lands a left. Ngannou just looks pitiful here. Stipe lands a right dodging a left hook. Stipe just circling around him. "Like you mean it!" Stipe lands an inside kick. Ngannou misses a pathetically whiffed right to the body. 1:00. Ngannou walking like an old man, the speed of a turtle, eats an inside kick. "Is Ngannou recharging?" Rogan asks dryly. Ngannou misses a right. Miocic backpedaling dodging a right Superman punch and a flying knee attempt. Clinch. Fifteen seconds left. Crowd doesn't sound too displeased. Miocic raises his hand two full seconds before the bell to end R5 and R5 ends, 10-8 Miocic. They hug. I don't even want to add up the scores, let's just wait to hear what the judges say. 50-44 UD for Miocic, damn dude. Miocic is a badass.